Abdullah calls out Taliban for stalled peace talks 

Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, on Thursday spoke out against the Taliban who he says has taken a “harsh stance” in relation to the current peace talks. 

Addressing an event to mark the establishment of a commission for political parties under the HCNR, Abdullah said: “At this moment, the Taliban has taken a hard stance, which unfortunately is not helping the situation.”

“Our delegation is still in Doha and we are in contact and we hope this deadlock is only short term,” he said. 

“We know that nobody will win through war,” Abdullah said, adding that the same applied to peace – that “neither will anyone lose in peace.”

“At this point, the Taliban’s stance is pretty harsh and this does not help as we proceed with the job at hand; they say that the prisoners should be released, the foreigners must withdraw, they should be dropped from the (UN) blacklist,” he said adding that the Taliban also want other conditions met before they will agree to a ceasefire. 

On whether the Taliban has stuck to its commitments as per the agreement signed with the US in February last year, Abdullah said one of the preconditions was a reduction in violence. This has not happened, he said. 

“One of the foundations of the agreement is a reduction in violence. Has it happened? Of course not,” said Abdullah.

Meanwhile, Afghan Foreign Minister Haneef Atmar also weighed in on the stalled peace process issue on Thursday and called on the international community to review legal options available in order to force the Taliban to stick to its commitments as per the Doha deal. 

Addressing a press conference, Atmar said: “All our international partners reiterated that the Taliban must return to the peace process and restart negotiations; if they want the international community to trust them in the peace process, then they should stick to the commitments made in the Doha agreement.”

Atmar also stated that the new Biden administration is working with Afghanistan on a joint program regarding the peace process.